The Cardinal

By Henry Morton Robinson

On its first publication, The Cardinal was an immediate bestseller. A selection of the Literary Guild, it was published in more than a dozen languages and sold over two million copies. Later made into an Academy Award-nominated film directed by Otto Preminger and starring John Huston, the book tells a story that captured the nation's attention: a working-class American's rise to become a cardinal of the Catholic Church. The daily trials and triumphs of Stephen Fermoyle, from the working-class suburbs of Boston, drive him to become first a parish priest, then secretary to a cardinal, later a bishop, and finally a wearer of the Red Hat. An essential work of American fiction that is newly relevant with the ordination of New York's Timothy Dolan as cardinal, Henry Morton Robinson's novel is back in print by popular demand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Feb 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781468306439

Reviews for The Cardinal

[anthonyblack-932074 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A fictional, but highly accurate, view of the Church in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Absolute mastery of the English language.

[matke-261098 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What was intriguing and mildly exciting when I was 23 or so becomes tiresome at 70, since a lifetime of books and experience have altered my views.Stephen Fermoyle is an Irish Catholic priest from Boston, with all the trite family life one might expect. He makes astonishingly rapid progress through the ranks, as the title might indicate. Brilliant and wise, touchingly human, impossibly good; Stephen is sometimes a big fat bore. And the same can be said if this long book. It’s interesting as a period piece, but has nothing to say, and is unrealistic at best.

[jillmwo-74323 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hefty novel that traces the rise of a young man in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. We first meet Stephen Fermoyle on the deck of an ocean liner in 1915 and the book's epilogue closes with him on the deck of a different ocean liner in 1937, just prior to the Second World War. As one might anticipate, the book is dominated by men and their friendships and networks within the Church; women are allotted the roles of wife, mother, nurse and nun. That said, Stephen Fermoyle is supposed to introduce us to the wide ranging talents of the men in charge of the bureaucratic, administrative entity that is the Catholic Church and most particularly, the Vatican. The book stresses the differences between the American and the European Church(es) in terms of expectations and stress points. The Catholic issues that dominate are those pertaining to the sanctity of life; modern sensibilities may be offended by the editorial stance expressed late in the book regarding the use of birth control. This was an international bestseller in 1950 and to be fair, the novel is well-structured and characterization is fairly robust.. Morton touches as well on the political, cultural, and diplomatic influence of the Vatican, but primarily focuses on the positive work done by the individuals who make up the Catholic Church.

[andersonden · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The title reminded me of the Monty Python skit "The Bishop" and it does have some of those qualities. It was written during the time when pulp fiction ruled and some of its sensibilities are the same (last minute rescues, amazing coincidences). It was interesting to me because it gives a view of the Catholic church from the point of view of a young priest moving up through the hierarchy. I have friends who were raised Catholic so it gave me some insight into that religious world. Certainly it's a picture of an *ideal* Catholic so don't expect scandal or reform in this one.